Where are Enrique Rios and Elijah Moore?
The Yolo County teenagers — who are classmates and friends — have been missing for weeks now, their sudden disappearances baffling their families and law-enforcement officers alike.
“It’s odd,” said Yolo County sheriff’s Sgt. Matt Davis, whose agency is nearly two months into its investigation of Enrique’s missing-person case. “The length of time he’s been missing is unusual; that’s the bottom line.”
Enrique, 16, hasn’t been seen since Oct. 16, when he went to bed that night at his family’s Esparto home.
Enrique Rios, 16, is a Hispanic male, 5-foot-7, 140 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. To report a tip, call the Yolo County Sheriff’s Dispatch, 530-666-8282
“When I woke up the next morning he was no longer in his room,” his mother, Lola Rios, said in a recent interview. “We’re going on week eight, and I haven’t gotten a phone call or a text or a letter in the mail.”
Rios said her son has left home for several days in the past, but always answered his family’s calls or texts.
Now, calls to Enrique’s cell phone go straight to voicemail, and there’s been no data usage since he disappeared — both highly unusual for a boy who uses his phone “like 24/7,” his mother said.
The teen who also prided himself on his appearance took no clothing or other personal belongings, Rios added. She’s hoping he might have touched base with friends in Davis, where the family once lived.
“Everything that’s going through my head, you can’t even imagine,” Rios said. “It’s not easy not knowing where your son is, or if he’s eating or if he’s warm.”
Enrique was in his junior year at César Chávez Community School in Woodland, where he became friends with Elijah Moore about a year ago. Both also worked in the school’s construction training program.
So when Elijah vanished less than three weeks later, on Nov. 4, another family began to worry.
Elijah Moore, 17, is an African-American male, 5-foot-11, 190 to 200 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. To report a tip, call the Woodland Police Department at 530-661-7650. Courtesy photo
Elijah, who had celebrated his 17th birthday the day before, stopped by California Check Cashing, 115 Main St. in Woodland, to cash a work check at about 3:45 p.m. He phoned his mother a few minutes later.
“He called me and said, ‘Mom, I’ll be home in a little bit,’ and he never made it home,” Alicia Moore said. She added that her son has no history of running away, and she knew of no arguments or other problems that would make him want to leave.
“He’s a mama’s boy,” she said. “There was no reason for my son to vanish into thin air.”
Moore suspects someone, likely an adult, befriended the teen boys “and lured them off somewhere.” She said she’s urged investigators to look into whether they’ve fallen victim to a human-trafficking operation.
She was dismayed when the Woodland Police Department, which received the family’s missing-person report on Nov. 6, initially classified the teen as a runaway. The agency has since changed that status to “suspicious.”
“There were no facts that led us to believe here was foul play or any other suspicious circumstances,” Woodland police Sgt. Brett Hancock said. “But because of the duration of time he’s been gone, we shifted it to ‘suspicious’ to heighten everyone’s attention.”
The detective handling the case “is working on it every day,” Hancock said — interviewing Elijah’s friends, monitoring social media and checking for cell phone activity, “but nobody has come forward with any information.”
Investigators also have forwarded Elijah’s description to law enforcement in the Bay Area, where Elijah told a friend he was going around the time he vanished, according to Hancock.
Davis, the sheriff’s sergeant, said a detective assigned full-time to Enrique’s case has fielded numerous tips, including potential sightings and other leads, but “so far, none of that information has proved to be especially helpful.”
“We just want the public’s help. We’ll follow up on any lead,” Davis said. Tips should be called in to the Sheriff’s Office 24-hour dispatch number, 530-666-8282.
Any information regarding Elijah’s whereabouts can be phoned in to the Woodland Police Department’s anonymous tip line at 530-661-7850.
“If anyone knows anything, please, please say something so we can sleep at night. I can’t stop thinking about my son,” Moore said. “Please help us bring our children home.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene